Little Bird, Little Bird
by Turtle412
Summary: While Laurel Lance leaves this world, she keeps thinking of one person. When she enters the next, he's there waiting for her. Canon compliment; concurrent with 4x18 and 4x19. Merlance, some Lauriver, very briefly implied Olicity.


Past the ringing in her ears, she swore she could make out what sounded like Ollie shouting her name. Unfortunately, she had been able to recognise Darhk's deranged smirk fairly clearly. Not having the strength to spit in his face at that moment was instantly one of the biggest regrets of her life.

She distantly felt Ollie carrying her in his arms. It was hard to focus on anything with the piercing pain through her side. Was this how he'd felt as he passed on? Ollie was telling her to stay awake, not to slip off but she couldn't (or was it _wouldn't_ ) listen to him. It was true to form anyway - the Black Canary had never played the part of dutiful subordinate in Team Arrow.

This time though she truly didn't mean to. She just couldn't stop letting her mind wonder on thoughts of _him_. As she gasped for air, she kept thinking if Tommy had to endure this as he slipped away too. If such a kind, loving man had been forced to die in such agony. Only a few years ago, she would have cried about how it wasn't fair. Alas, life's experiences had since taught Laurel that the world only made sense when you made it. It was why she had put on her sister's mask.

You see, Dinah Laurel Lance had realised there was no such thing as destiny. If only Tommy had accepted this, she wearily mused. He had gotten it into his head that they were simply not meant to be. If only he knew how many nights she'd spent even now looking over his picture before she went to bed.

The doctors said she was stable. Yet she still felt so weak and defenseless. Needless to say, she didn't like it one bit.

The rest of the team were there, looking over her. The people she loved the most aside from her family… and the man she had loved more than anyone. She gave no hint of it to them, but she still couldn't get her thoughts off her former lover.

* * *

She had ice on her hand. It wasn't broken thankfully, but she had undoubtedly hurt it. The nagging voice in the back of her head told her this is why she should have continued to commit to the self-defense classes her father had signed her up for when she was younger.

"Hey." She looked up, startled by the voice. Her expression softened when she saw who was standing at her doorway. "Hi Tommy. Shouldn't you be at some club?" she jokingly inquired.

"Well, _Miranda_ " - she rolled her eyes in annoyance at the way he emphasised her name - "and I were meant to have a…. one-on-one but I told her I had to check up on a friend."

"Ladies man extraordinaire Tommy Merlyn ditching a date to come see me. I'm touched." She put her good hand over her heart for emphasis. Her tone was light-hearted but she really did appreciate his visit. Since they'd hit the legal age (or, more likely, even before) Tommy and Oliver had between them chased every skirt in Starling. But they were always different with her and her sister. They'd always been friends to them.

She hissed as he grabbed her injured hand, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Thanks doctor."

He ignored her remark, as he looked it over.

"Trust me, Oliver was telling me, Jason's face is way worse. His eye is actually almost swollen shut!" Tommy burst into giggles as he recounted. Laurel couldn't suppress a grin.

"It's what that creep deserves. Sara's only 16!" Remembering it made her blood boil all over again. The nineteen year-old jock had a bit of a reputation, but Laurel had never put much thought into him until she'd spotted Sara trying to sneak into her room with tears in her eyes.

She felt a finger gently tracing over her knuckles. "Hey, it's okay. You don't have to beat yourself up over it."

"Tommy, you don't have a younger sister so no offense but you don't get it. I should look after her, make sure she's safe. But it turns out she was getting texts off this guy for weeks and yesterday he followed her into an alley and tried to yank down her pants!" Laurel struggled in vain to stop her voice from shaking. She hated that bastard and what he'd tried to do to Sara. But, Tommy was right. She was mainly upset with herself for not knowing and doing something earlier.

The next thing she knew, she was in a tight embrace. "Come on, it's okay. I don't know about having a sister, you're right. But, if I did have one, I'd love it if she beat in the face of the guy who messed with me."

Laurel just snuggled against him, grateful for his support. Tommy Merlyn was a playboy to all the girls in the city. But to her, he wasn't; he was her rock.

They didn't talk to much after that; Tommy just softly bandaged her hand.

* * *

John, Thea, and Felicity had left the room. It was just her and Oliver now. She took her chance; it was beyond time to get some closure with her other great love.

"I know that I'm not the love of your life, but you will always be the love of mine." Simple. It wasn't exactly true, but it was easier to put it that way. There was no point in reminding the tortured soul about his departed brother.

And she what she had spoken wasn't wrong. 'The one' is what many people pursue throughout their lives. But, Laurel didn't have that - she had the duo. Her heart had only ever belonged to two men, two brothers. They were both so noble, charming, and giving. They were similar in so many ways. It was why she could unironically claim to be in love with both of them.

She should have been alarmed at the fact that she was hallucinating, but Laurel smiled when she saw Tommy sitting in the bed next to Oliver, both of them watching over her.

She wasn't surprised when she started to convulse. She knew her body, and she had a bad feeling that she hadn't been long for this world. As she faded out of consciousness, she wished she had been able to calm down the city's hero, give him some parting words and make sure he didn't check back into the All-My-Fault Hotel. But she couldn't, so instead she decided to use her last few seconds of reason, _the last moments of her life_ to think back on a dinner with Tommy.

… To his relief, she hadn't cooked that night.

* * *

"Um, I'll just wait outside." Thea Queen was confident and assertive. Seeing her bashful and embarrassed was not an everyday sight. However, she was struggling to hold onto the documents in her hand as she stared dumbfounded at her work guardian with her shirt unbuttoned and underneath her boyfriend (who had been unbuckling his belt when young Ms. Queen entered).

Thea made a mental note to knock before going to give Laurel files from now on.

Within an instant, Laurel was back up and re-buttoning her shirt. She was not particularly amused when Tommy tried to drape an arm across her waist and stop her.

"Your best friend's younger sister just walked in on us. Are you really still in the mood?"

"For you, alw-"

"Wow, your pick-up lines have really deteriorated."

"It's worth it" he muttered as he twiddled some of her hair around his finger.

She sighed as she disentangled from him. "You are _never_ talking me into sex at work again."

"Ah come on. You said everyone was gone. We could have done it at home if you hadn't decided to stay late today."

"You're right, you're right" she tiredly agreed as she found herself laying her head against his chest. "Home huh?"

"What was that?" he whispered into her ear. Both of them had become lackadaisical, finding comfort in their embrace.

"You said 'home'. You've really gotten used to my apartment."

He straightened so he could look into her eyes, hands on her shoulders. "Laurel, I'm just getting used to thinking of home as by your side."

He kissed her sweetly on the top of her head. "I think I'm in love with you" she confessed as she melted into his arms.

Thea smirked outside, touched by the moment her friends were having on the other side of the door. She'd be sure to remind them of it one day.

* * *

Her parents, Nyssa, and Jo hadn't been there in her death, but they (along with many others) made it for her funeral. She was there as well; she didn't understand how. She knew for a fact that she wasn't alive once more. No one could see her but she witnessed everything that unfolded.

She saw her mother and father coming to terms with her being gone (how she hated that she wasn't able to apologise or say farewell to them). She saw Felicity and John trying not to cry (how she prayed they wouldn't blame themselves and how she wished she could still be there for them). She saw Nyssa and Jo idly chatting - two strangers from completely different worlds making a connection through their common bond with her (how she'd miss talking to them - her best friends). She saw Thea clutching her fist so tightly, her knuckles obviously going white under her gloves (how she wanted so badly to hold her tight and tell the younger girl that everything would get better).

But then she heard Ollie delivering her eulogy and started to feel lighter. This sensation intensified as his speech continued. This was not the cheating womanizer from their younger days. This was not the damaged survivor from Lian Yu. This was not the killer in The Hood. This was not the broken Arrow. This was a man who despite the pain he had experienced was still looking towards a brighter tomorrow. This was a man with hope. This was the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen - the hero she always believed he could become. As she began to vanish from the graveyard she thought of how she loved that she'd managed to end things well with him.

* * *

She opened her eyes and saw light. She was in some sort of white void.

Laurel was unsure of whether she should feel relieved or distressed.

"Hey." Laurel looked up into an all too familiar face.

Neither said anything for the first moment, both just taking in the sight of each other again after so long.

"I like the blonde" he stated with a boyish smile.

"Thank you." She went to get up and walk towards him but she stumbled. Luckily, he was there in an instant and grabbed her with care. She looked into his eyes. That passion. That concern. That love. There was no mistake - this was her Tommy.

"You have to be careful. It takes a small bit of time to adjust to here."

He went silent then, waiting for her response. But she just stared at him, studying his features for the first time in years. Without warning she leaned forward and their lips met in a chaste kiss. It wasn't filled with urgency or panic or desperation. Just the sweet comfort that they had found their way back to each other.

"I've missed _that_ far too much" she confessed as a blush crept up her cheeks.

"Ditto" his plain reply as he squeezed her hips. She managed to conceal a moan.

"So, I'm here...the other place…" her voice trailed over as she caught up with the reality of where she was.

"Yeah, and I'm home." He gazed at her with such warmth. "I've been waiting for you Laurel."

"Then I'm sorry for making you wait so long."

"Don't be. I wish you hadn't come here so soon…" his grief that she too had died young was palpable. "But heck, I loved seeing you suit up, Ms. Black Canary." He flashed her a proud grin.

"Which reminds me of something…" he added as she looked at him in confusion.

* * *

Oliver stroked his chin as he knelt down in front of the grave. He visited it often anyway (not enough, however, in his own opinion) so it only made sense for him to pay his respects when he was already there for the funeral.

He kept thinking of both of them. He was not a man of faith but at that point in time he entertained the notion of an afterlife. He could imagine them being reunited at last; catching up, reminiscing, dancing, laughing. If it was true, then he was envious. Two of the people he had cared for the most in his life were together again, while he was the member of their trio left alone. How utterly proper, he mused. Laurel had talked to him about finding love with someone else on her deathbed. Laurel hadn't said it, but it was true for both of them.

Laurel was his first love and he hers. But, Oliver had quite some time ago confronted the fact that if soulmates existed, Tommy had been hers.

He turned his head to face the presence he felt behind him.

"I wanted to check on him as well." Thea said. She wasn't crying, but her voice was weak and sore.

Oliver stood aside to let her plant a new bouquet at the young Merlyn's grave. Her shoulders started to shake a little as she spoke, "Do you think they found each other up there?"

Oliver stepped behind his sister, his voice calm and reassuring, "I promise you that Tommy was the very 1st person waiting there to greet her."

She let out a small laugh. "Ya know, it's so, so so stupid but I had a dream a year or two ago where they were getting married." At this the younger Queen broke down.

A second later, her tear stained face was buried into the crook of her brother's neck. "Shh, shh it's okay. Laurel would have liked to hear that story, you know?"

Thea calmed down a tad as Oliver talked. "This life we live has never been easy. It makes me just want to roll up and quit. But we have to focus on memories and dreams like that instead. It's the best way to move on and keep going. And that's what they'd want us to do."

Thea had recomposed herself now as she wiped the tears from her face. "You made a great Best Man's speech, Ollie" she chuckled as she shared.

"And I'm sure you were a beautiful bridesmaid Speedy."

She smacked his shoulder playfully. They both laughed at this and spent a few more minutes at the grave reminiscing happily. Ollie was pretty sure Thea had initiated it, but either way the siblings soon found each other in a tight embrace before they left.

* * *

 _Little bird, little bird,_

 _Fly through my window_

"Oh my God, no!" Laurel burst out as the song played.

Tommy meanwhile was gone red in the face from laughter.

"Why did I have to call myself the Canary?" she embarrassedly wondered.

"Hey it was a good name!"

She tried (and failed) to glare daggers at him. "I really did change you….. your taste in music has gone to shreds." Laurel feigned regret.

"Eh, what're you gonna do about it?"

"We both know that I could've beaten you up before I became a vigilante, so…."

"No thanks, I'll behave." They both just smiled as she put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him again.

 _Chickadee, chickadee,_

 _Fly through my window_

The former ADA groaned, "How were you able to do that anyway?"

"I'll show you" he took her left hand in his, "it's not difficult. You learn a few tricks here."

Before Tommy could start his explanation, she started to kiss along his jawline with a smirk. Within a few minutes both their blazers had been slipped off as they started to explore each other's bodies. Laurel passionately kissed him once more as she began to remove his shirt...

They'd been separated for years but they were together again now. And this time, they had all of eternity.

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this story! I know it isn't timely, but I'm behind in the Arrowverse and thus only just reached Laurel's death and funeral. This idea popped into my head once I had finished those episodes. And once I was planning, I couldn't leave out some Ollie/Thea brother-sister bonding.**

 **Please leave reviews. They're what really make this community function. Thanks for reading!**


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